License India, a division of Franchise India, is holding an international conference, Brand Licensing and Merchandising Show, on 9th-10th July, 2010 at Hotel Crowne Plaza, Okhla, New Delhi. The event has been organised to provide business platform for Indian brands, manufacturers and exporters to enter the licensing industry.

Leading the conference will be Martin Brochstein, SVP Industry Relations and Information, International Licensing Industry Merchandisers’ Association (LIMA). Some of the other key industry experts sharing their perspective will be Roshni Bakshi (Disney), Devender Chawla (Pantaloons), Ameet Datta (Luthra & Luthra), Anurag Rajpal (Spencers’), Ashish Kulkarni (BIG Animation) amongst others.

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Fossil, a US based global design, marketing and distribution company that specializes in consumer fashion accessories has launched a unique product which utilizes the ancient timekeeping technique of the ‘sundial’ to tell time. The watch must be aligned to the north. The time can be determined by the shadow that falls across the dial. As the name suggests, these watches make use of sunlight to indicate the time, making it an eco-conscious watch. It has no battery or any other moving parts. Other prominent features are the antiqued silver tone face with wood accents, a buckle clasp, stainless steel case and an impeccable black genuine leather strap. These watches are available across select Shoppers Stop and Lifestyle stores and are priced at Rs3995.

An advertisement campaign for a luxury product from a high end brand would normally follow the pattern of a bevy of pretty models in exotic locales, projecting fairytale levels of happiness and perfection. That would seem to be the right thing to do – associate beauty and perfection with the product to make it desirable. But that has been so done to death. The new trend is to go against the grain, turn the whole established concepts on their heads, break free, and more essentially- provoke a reaction. Pick up any glossy of the caliber of a Vogue or Vanity Fair and the pages are covered with such macabre advertisements of popular luxury brands that would delight Marquis de Sade. The latest is a Jimmy Choo ad campaign that shows visuals of a dead woman slung inside the trunk of a car while music impresario Quincy Jones is digging a grave. There is another Jimmy Choo ad showing a woman who has murdered a man, a Prada ad showing a bruised woman sitting on a park bench at night, a Dolce & Gabbana ad featuring a model about to slice off another model’s head, a woman fishing out a Jimmy Choo bag from a pool with a male corpse floating alongside, another Dolce & Gabbana ad with the theme of a gang rape. They are bizarre, deviant and incredibly violent, the emphasis being more on sexual violence. Do such ads lure customers?  Several theories have been propounded but the scariest of them all, a research from The Journal of Consumer Research says that it is because ‘women like it’.  The study is yet to be released later this year and is certain to tri  Read More

The recent auspicious day of Akshaya Tritiya was milked by retailers like Big Bazaar to lure the customer to buy gold and other such valuables, chalking up sales of Rs150cr. Ashni Biyani, director of Future Ideas, a part of the Future Group confessed that they consciously tap the potential of such auspicious days (nearly 150) by checking out the Panchang (Hindu almanac). In fact a special team of experts on Indian mythology and religion was set up six months ago. This is another of Future Group’s clever marketing strategy which in the past has included ‘Sabse Sasta Din’. Its TV blitz for Akshaya Tr  Read More

Sandwich chain Subway has opened an innovative restaurant at Ground Zero in New York City. The restaurant, which serves construction workers building the Freedom Tower, a replacement of the demolished World Trade Towers, is housed in shipping containers and rises on a hydraulic platform as the tower is being built. The Subway restaurant has been subcontracted by the company fabricating and installing all the tower's structural steel and allows workers to get lunch and get back to work without having to go down to stre  Read More

Indian retailers may be the beneficiaries of a new advances system that can seamlessly track food and drugs in the supply chain. The system is used to identify and recall contaminated products seamlessly including at the retail level. The GS1 Systems works through key standards such as barcodes, electronic business messaging and radio frequency identification (RFID) technology to track products. Alerts can be sent by mobile or through the internet so that they can be acted on immediately. The new system has been developed by the Brussels based GS1 – the most widely used supply chain standards system. The India office has initiated talks with the  Read More

UK based Marks & Spencer is rolling out its Shop your Way click & collect service to Simply Food stores. The move follows a trial at 11 Simply Food stores before Christmas. Shop your Way, the internet based service, is now available in 86 Simply Food stores and is expected to be rolled out to 144 convenience stores by the end of the summer. The service is already available at Marks & Spencer’s larger variety stores. Sales through the company’s Direct business rose 27% this year to GBP413 million and Sir Stuart Rose, Chairman said the target of GBP500 million this financial year was in “sight".



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"You will recall that one of the key strategic imperatives of Reliance Retail was to address the food supply chain, and to build deep relationships with customers, farmers and other producers. I am glad to report that our concerted efforts in this direction over the last three years have already made Reliance Retail the largest food retailer in the country.”

“The More (hypermarket) network has just turned cash positive. We want to be EBITDA positive by 2012 and PAT positive by 2015.”

“Our stated objective is to increase local sourcing to be at least 70% of our overall sourcing."

“Rent is a cost to us and you cannot tax a cost. It was a wrong step (to charge service tax).”

“The Euro zone is in a mess. It will take time to recover. But India and China is where the action lies. India is a fast moving market with huge potential in terms of economy and development.”